Chen Shuibians “cloak of peace” remark
Interesting new term in politics: “cloak of peace” (from the Financial Times):
“Chen Shui-bian could be forgiven for seeming tired or distracted. Faced with a barrage of corruption allegations against himself, members of his family and his administration, the Taiwan president has spent the past year countering criticism while also struggling to address government policies.
It has led some some to declare him a lame duck. But it may be too early to draw any such conclusion: he has less than 20 months left in office, but during this time he wants to “do the work of 40 months”, he told the Financial Times.
Gradually relaxing his guarded, lawyerly manner, Mr Chen made clear his determination to leave his mark by fighting for Taiwan’s separate nationhood even in the face of China’s growing strength.
“I think it is extremely dangerous that many people are ready to give up Taiwan’s sovereignty as a country,” he said. He insisted that real peace was possible only by holding firmly on to independence.
A proposal by Ma Ying-jeou, the Kuomintang (KMT) leader and a presidential hopeful for 2008, for a peace agreement with China under which Taiwan would promise not to declare independence in exchange for China ending its threat of war against the island especially drew Mr Chen’s ire.
“This is sporting the cloak of peace while working out a declaration of surrender,” he said of Mr Ma. “Once Taiwan signs such an agreement, all that is left is wait to die.”
“No independence in exchange for no war, what is that supposed to mean? No war is a matter of course, cross-Strait disagreements should not be solved by non-peaceful means in the first place,” Mr Chen thundered. “And no independence? We are already independent and you still want to make us non-independent. Isn’t that very strange?”
The remarks come as many observers have started to look at the next presidential election in 2008 as a likely watershed in cross-Strait relations. They argue that given the public’s fatigue with Mr Chen and his Democratic Progressive Party, the opposition KMT is set to win, and its more pragmatic attitude towards China is set to bring friendlier ties with Beijing and far-reaching liberalisation of cross-Strait economic exchanges.” [more]